1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle passenger restraining system with a vehicle collision state determining system.
2. Background Information
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-200962 discloses a conventional vehicle passenger restraining system provided with a vehicle collision state determining system. The vehicle passenger restraining system disclosed in this publication is configured to restrain a passenger when the vehicle collision state determining system determines that the vehicle will rollover (roll sideways). Such conventional vehicle collision state determining system is configured to determine that the vehicle will rollover when the vehicle state expressed in terms of a roll angle and a roll rate of the vehicle enters a rollover region defined by a threshold line that defines a relationship between the roll angle and the roll rate or when the vehicle state enters a rollover region defined by a threshold line that defines a relationship between the lateral (transverse) acceleration and the roll rate.
Then, the conventional vehicle passenger restraining system disclosed in the above mentioned publication is configured to initially operate only a passenger restraining device installed on the side of the vehicle toward which the vehicle rolls over (hereinafter called “rollover side”). Afterwards, the conventional vehicle passenger restraining system is configured to operate other restraining devices (that are not installed on the rollover side) if the vehicle collision state determining system determines that the vehicle will roll further beyond the rollover side.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H10-244835 discloses another example of a conventional vehicle collision state determining system that has a sensor for detecting load input during a side collision of the vehicle. In this publication, the sensor of the vehicle collision state detecting device is arranged inside a closed cross sectional structure of a center pillar of the vehicle. The sensor is mounted directly to the center pillar with a mounting bolt of a mounting hinge of the rear door such that the sensor can detect a collision load that is inputted (imparted) to the rear door in a diagonally rearward direction or in a laterally inward direction without the load being transmitted through the center pillar.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved vehicle passenger restraining system. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.